.... a Friday Frolics post from me! [Alas, still several days late as somehow it is now Tuesday! All the days seem to be melting into one another under Iso.] Anyway, onto the stitching. This past Friday I picked up Morning Song by Just Nan which I have not stitched on for absolute ages. This is where I was up to:
... and this is my progress - on the top band I stitched two tree trunks and some of the leaves on one of the trees and started the house but unfortunately it is too far to the right (I left off a bit of the white fence) so it will need to be frogged - bummer!
I also finished the pink flower on the bottom right.
I actually do not have that much more to do on this - finish the top band and then finish the band with the pink flowers on the bottom and add another narrow band and I will be done!
I must remember to pick this project up again very soon.
Thanks for visiting and please don't forget to leave a comment as I do love a good chat,
As I knew that today is going to be a very busy day: Site meeting for "Grand Designs Eaglemont: Two House Project:Back House" with the builder and architect, then a catch up lunch with an old school friend and lastly, dinner and then a play at the Heidelberg Theatre Company - phew! I am exhausted just thinking about it - lol! - I shifted my Friday Night Frolics to Thursday and picked up Just Nan's Morning Song - the last time I stitched on this was 6th January, 2017!!!!!!! Before:
Progress:
As you can see, I finished that dratted light green plait stitch on the bottom band and now have five (not all complete)sheep. There is still a bit to do on this band, Band 10 and after that there are still Bands 11, 12 (a big band) and 13 to go. At the top, I managed to complete Bands 3 and 4 and I still have Bands 1 (a big band) and 2 to go. So, altogether I have finished seven and a half bands out of 13 - so more than halfway.
I will probably keep stitching on it on Saturday, before New Start Sunday, and try to maybe get Band 10 finished before it is put away again - hopefully Morning Song will appear again sooner rather than later, I would really love a Happy Dance with this project.
hugs,
P.S. I am having ANOTHER Girl's Nest Giveaway (#6) on my main blog, Kitten Stitching, click on the pic below if you would like to enter. Closes May 31st.
A highly successful FNSI/FF last evening working on Counting Bats by Just Nan....
Before:
Progress:
Only seven more bands to go......
hugs,
P.S. I would just like to invite you to take part in myGirl's Nest Giveaway #5, on my main blog, Kitten Stitching, please just click on the pic below to sign up for the item of your choice. It closes on March 31st.
This week for FF I have rediscovered a WIP from 2016 ....Counting Bats by Just Nan. Now, I love this design and I was stitching it for the 2016 Hallowe'en SAL but somehow I abandoned around May 2016. I have no idea why as I cannot think of anything that was happening around that time to make me give up on the SAL for that year. Anyway, it is back for today, hurray!
It would be nice if I could get another band done this weekend, wouldn't it?
Please feel free to come back tomorrow to see how much progress I make today/this evening.
hugs,
P.S. I would just like to invite you to take part in myGirl's Nest Giveaway #5, on my main blog, Kitten Stitching, please just click on the pic below to sign up for the item of your choice. It closes on March 31st.
Well, Frosty Hopes didn't get as much love as I would have liked as I integrated it into my Rotation Relay for the Winter Olympics WIPocalypse 2018 SAL (FB group) but it did progress.... Before...
After...
Thanks for visiting,
hugs,
P.S. If you would like to see my Winter Olympics Rotation Relay pieces so far, please click here.
....by Just Nan is my choice for Friday Frolics today. Truly appropriate as I am just watching the Aussies compete in the Moguls at the Winter Olympics. The last time I stitched on this was in April last year - you can read all about it in this post.
... was a bit like Schrodinger's Cat - neither successful nor unsuccessful! For those of you who are wondering who Schrodinger and his cat were and why I am referencing them - Sheldon from The Big Bang explains it best (or click on the link above).
(TraderVic and I are huge fans of The Big Bang Theory and are quite addicted to the show - it is on repeats here in Oz every night, so we are able to feed our addiction regularly - lol!)
Anyway, I digress - onto the stitching.....
Now, the successful part was me completing a FFO from last year - Wee Santa 2016....
Design: Wee Santa 2016
Fabric: 28 ct Mocha linen
Floss: My own choice of specialty threads
Framing: By me in a Mill Hill frame
My dear friend, Wendy, from my LNS, taught me a neat trick for getting the design to sit nicely when you sew it over the cardboard - you have two lengths of thread and weave them like shoelaces. It worked like a dream, the stitching is sitting really flat and looks perfect - thank you so much, Wendy. xxxx
Now for the unsuccessful part... in true Friday Frolicking fashion, I chose a WIP at random from my ever growing pile of WIPs, UFOs and BAPs ....
Morning Song by Just Nan, I last posted about it on this post.
So, here is where I was up to before yesterday....
... and after, looking rather more crumpled and not much progress at all!
Design:Morning Song
Fabric: 28 ct Cream or Antique White linen
Floss: Suggested DMC threads
Okay, do you want to hear my excuses?
1. Plait stitch is really tricky to do, especially in a light green - I found it really hard to get a rhythm - there was a lot of frogging happening.
2. It was really, really hot yesterday, so the house was shut up tight with the air conditioner on, the outdoor sun blinds down and the plantation shutters shut - so the lighting was poorer than usual which affected 1. above.
3. Frantic morning video chats with DS2 in Sydney. DS2 video chats me on my mobile:
DS2: Dad, where's Dad? I need Dad! (Note: no greeting)
Me: Why do you need Dad, is everything all right?
DS2: No, our ceiling has fallen down and I don't know what to do! (Note: DS2 is 24 and lives in a sharehouse in Sydney and there were terrible storms in Sydney overnight)
Me (and TraderVic): Oh, my goodness, was anyone hurt? - Ring the SES (State Emergency Service) and ring the agent.
DS2: No, no one was hurt, we were all in bed (it was 9am), I tried the agent, the office is still shut for the Christmas/New Year break. What is the number for the SES?
Me: Does the agent have a head office or a mobile number?
DS2: No.
Me: (On the computer in Melbourne, remember DS2 lives in Sydney) The SES number is xxxx and the real estate agent's mobile number is xxxx. Ring both of them now. You may be told by the SES that you can't stay.
DS2: We have a back up plan if we have to move out, I'll ring the SES now but I can't bother the agent on his mobile.
Me: Yes, you can, he needs to know, so he can let the landlord know!!!!!
DS2: Okay. Talk again soon.
Me: (later that morning). How is it going?
DS2: Ses came
And said it will be fine
So land lord is getting people to come fix it
Me:You got onto the agent, then? Do you have to move out?
No we can stay
Yep glen is sorting it out
Me: Great, aren't you glad that I found his mobile number for you - just saying! lol!
DS2: Thx mummy (Remember he has just turned 24!)
(Later that morning I get another call)
DS2: it is still raining and now the living room is flooding.
Me: Have you shifted the furniture? (couch, dining table and chairs, TV, etc.)
DS2:Nah! It is only a millimetre or two.
Me: What if it keeps raining and you don't have contents insurance?
DS2: Nah, she'll be right (very typical Aussie attitude), it's only a little bit of water and rain.
Me: I give up!
I am not sure what else has happened as DS2's mobile phone has now broken down - so I have to Message him via his best friend's phone who is staying with him for a few days before heading back to Melbourne and DS2 starts a new job on Monday. It never ends with your children, does it? lol!
4. Daytime naps needed to be had due to 2. and 3. above and the fact that it has been really hot overnight so little sleep has been had.
5. TraderVic, DS1 and DDIL and I all played a lively game of Monopoly_Melbourne Edition in the evening, which severely cut into my stitching time.
So, there you go, all sound like reasonable excuses to me! lol!
Just to finish off, the cats are feeling the effects of the hot weather, too. Milo and Nobu are engaged in a Mexican Standoff ....
... and Furio has just given up!
Poor furbabies, mind you, they could sleep in the cool, air conditioned rooms but no!
So, that was my first Friday Frolic for the year. Rather an eventful one, now that I think about it!
First Friday of the month is Spooky Stitching time. I really want to press on and complete Ghastly, Ghostly Ghouls by Just Nan. I'm working on this most evenings and on days when I work full time as it's an easy travel project.
The other main piece is Dragon of the Winter Moon by Dragon Dreams:
Lots of white rayon!
I also finished another cube, H is still not stitched, that's this Friday's project.
Last Friday was IHSW but since I finished Elizabeth Shephard I don't have a specific project for the third weekend, I just stitch whatever I've been working on that week.
Which was Byzantine Ornament 3 by Teresa Wentzler:
stitched on 28 count Burgundy linen
I also continued the Ghastly, Ghostly Ghouls by Just Nan:
stitched on 28 count lilac linen
And started finishing my Christmas Cubes by Primitive Hare! One a week until Christmas:
Well, I messed up my own rotation this month! Because I was thinking about the Alphabet Club post on Saturday the 1st October, I completely forgot that Friday 30th September was a Fifth Friday and I should have been stitching another Teresa Wentzler Byzantine Ornament.
Instead I started a Hallowe'en piece thinking it was the First Friday. Never mind, we'll have five Fridays in October instead!
Here's how I got on with the new start, pictured with my ORTs jar:
The design is another Just Nan; Ghastly, Ghostly Ghouls, stitched on 28 count lilac linen.
On Sunday I completed another cube! They no longer fit in the sideboard in the kitchen but have moved into the living room:
I've tipped the top ones back so you can see the different coloured fabrics I have used for each cube. It's the same design in orange, purple and black.
So sorry, all of my dear Fellow Frolickers, I have not posted on this blog since August 14 - how appalling of me! It is not that I have not stitched on a Friday night since then - I am pretty sure that I have almost every Friday, except for the few where we have gone out. It is just that each weekend and then the following week would seem to fly by and before I knew it, it was too late to post a FF update, as the next Friday Frolic was underway - lol! Anyway, enough excuses, back on track today. Here is what I stitched on yesterday...
Bad Halloween Fairy
My own design using motifs and alphabet from the book underneath, Point de croix couleurs. This is for the Bad Fairy theme for this month for the Halloween Ornie SAL
Also, a few weeks ago, for FF, I picked up a very old Just Nan WIP, Morning Song. Before:
After:
And another time, I did a bit more on Too Cold to go out, I can tell you, stitching "Furio" on the right, is quite tricky.
So, that's me, more or less up to date with the Friday Frolics.
This year I have been stitching a Just Nan band sampler called Counting Bats for our Hallowe'en Ornie SAL blog. Each band has matched the monthly theme, until this month which is Bad Fairies. I have reached the final band which features some wings. They may be bat wings, they may be spooky fairy wings but I doubt it!
stitched on 32 count lilac linen
And here is the finished piece:
It's very hard to get a good photo of it because it's so long and thin! But you've seen all the individual bands throughout the year, so look back for close-ups.
Just in case the jury decide those aren't bad fairy wings, I thought I ought to have a back-up plan. I looked everywhere for Bad Fairies and mostly found full-coverage pieces or Nora Corbett's Trick or Treat Fairy (which I have in my stash). I wanted something little. I found some nice Maleficent designs in that pixel style but I'm not really a Disney person.
So I decided to adapt an existing fairy by Lucie Heaton and make her Bad!
That's actually the same fabric as Counting Bats is stitched on but it looks more blue here.
Here's the original design so you can see the changes:
I used the silks from Counting Bats for her dress, tights, shoes, hair and hat. DMC for her bat wings and Kreinik for her wand. I sketched her on graph paper to get the wings right.
I didn't finish a cube this week. Hubby shut himself in the living room to watch the Grand Prix in peace and my stuff was all in there! I'll have to double-up another week.
